|
akmonki
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Aleta
Country: United States
State: Alaska
Metro: Anchorage
Birthday: 10/27/1986
Gender: Female
Interests: people, arts, musica, distance running, skiing (not downhill), soccer, surfing, movies, food, and traveling
Expertise: curiosity & adventure (and fun. always fun)
Occupation: Student
Industry: Nonprofit
Message: message me
Member Since:
10/11/2004
|
|
| Thumping music, strobe lights, foam machine, cowboy hat, and dancing like you just don’t care.
I miss morning yoga to the sound of waves. I miss the guy who sold mangoes for 50 cents from his tricicleta. I miss my kitchen boys, “Oy! Pan pita, hoy!” with greasy t-shirts and dark eyes that spoke louder than words.
I miss going to sleep with dirty feet from walking around barefoot all day. I miss the rasta guy who used to high-five me in the street and offer pot, even though he didn’t know my name and should have known that I’d refuse once again.
I miss sharing walks, chats, and $1.50 almuerzos with my sister.
I miss our friends who lived in the big barn next door and how they invited us over for homemade dinners, begged me to braid cornrows into their hair, and safely escorted us home after late nights at the discoteca.
I miss dropping into a big wave, and riding the break all the way to the beach. I miss waiting for waves with the locals who would joke and say that our surf skills were actually improving. I miss being mistaken as a local because of my dark skin and few convincing words of Spanish.
I miss my cumbersome longboard, the faded blue flower print and wobbly fin. I miss my special buddy who would play tag with me in the streets, twirl me on the dance floor, and always offer a sip of his mojito.
What am I doing here with the traffic, the giant mosquitoes, the mall-sized supermarkets? Here where I can’t survive without an apartment, a cell phone, a job, a vehicle, a ten-year plan… Here where I’ll be frowned upon if my clothes aren’t from REI or if I carry my belongings in plastic bags. Here where people go to gyms to lose weight because they sit at desk jobs all day playing solitaire and drinking their 2,000-calorie frappes. Here where people don’t introduce you to their friends, who introduce you to their friends, and so forth until you literally know everyone in town.
Diapers in the closet and toys in the tub, that’s I get for sharing an apartment with an old friend & her 2-year old son. I just completed my first week of job orientation at a children’s behavioral hospital; along with dozens of horror stories, we were taught how to de-escalate hostile situations dealing with aggressive, suicidal, and delusional youth. For the past month, I’ve been using a borrowed bicycle to get around town. Yesterday at work, somebody pried my lock apart and stole my bicycle.
Just when I thought I was getting my life together, walls started crumbling.
I yearn for the simple life like nobody’s business.
| | |
| In my new home on the northern end of Sant Vincenç dels Horts, I’d grown accustomed to a staple diet of oranges, yogurt, and chocolate sandwich cookies. I’d also grown accustomed to the mullet-headed children riding bicycles, the Spain-ish lisp, the large guild of stray cats and their abandoned couch across the street from my window, and the lingering scent of baby clothing. All of these things that seemed so alien to me no more than a week earlier had fallen into my everyday life.
Grooving to British pop artist, Kate Nash, I laid on the sunny porch of the 4th floor apartment. The family had taken off for a weekend trip to Italy, so nobody else was home and I could stretch my limbs like a cul-de-sac cat. An updraft of Mediterranean wind played with the loose strands of hair that got away from my ponytail, reminding me to appreciate the simplicity of life.
When things seemed far from perfect, I have to remind myself that money does not bring happiness and that the only life I can control is my own.
I have no friends. Until today, this didn’t really occur to me—or it didn’t really sink in. I have my dad and sister back in the states who are wrapped up in their own lives, and who I talk to maybe once a week. And there are my old schoolmates from high school and college, which are small in number and with whom I seem to be gradually losing touch with. And of course, there’s the family that I live with here in Barcelona, but don’t really interact with very much due to language barriers and the fact that they are content little family that doesn’t have much time to fit anyone else into their lives. I am without peers to hang out with or to console in or to seek advice from.
Here I am nobody. I am just an unnoticeable figure wandering the streets, a blob filling up space in this family’s apartment. People don’t know me here, they don’t know what I’ve accomplished, they don’t know what I can offer. And from the attitudes I’ve received, they’ve shown that don’t care.
In Alaska I had a respectable life: an apartment, education, an active lifestyle, and friends to share times with. Sometimes when I think back on where I’ve come from and what I used to have, it seems crazy for me to have left it all behind. True, I’ve seen wonders of the world and met lovely people, but now I am homeless, jobless, out of shape, and friendless. Am I just pessimistic or is there am obvious downhill decline in my life?
Although Barcelona is a gorgeous city, I don’t seem to be able to create a niche in it for myself. This generous family that let me into their home (basically no questions asked) seem to be the only kindhearted people in this town. The mummy told me that they appreciate the help I provide around the house, but they also understand if things “just aren’t clicking here, and I need to move on.” I wasn’t sure if this was a hint for me to ‘move on’ or just a genuinely thoughtful statement—either way, it started me thinking about my options.
Yet I’m afraid that if I leave now, I will have failed at creating a life in Barcelona, and the only trace of me left in Barcelona would be a dent on their twin bed.
The only time I dance is alone on the rooftop in total silence—ears plugged into my iPod Shuffle. The only time I truly laugh is when talking on the Internet with my sister who on the opposite side the Atlantic Ocean. The only time I don’t feel alone is when I’m absorbed in a good film. And the only time I spend barefoot is when I sleep.
When I have nothing, sunshine is my only source of happiness.
Barcelona smog has stolen the sunshine.
-----------
This isn't the most upbeat post, and it may very well be the end of my posting here. There seem to be endless amounts of new blogging websites these days. It's a very competitive market nowadays, and I'm not sure Xanga's keepin up with the times too well. I'm currently jobless, and I've come across some possible opportunities to Blog as a source of income--how crazy is that? I realize that's pretty far-fetched, but I don't really have anything to lose at this point.
The most appealing blogging site to me right now is http://matadortravel.com , a blogging site aimed at travelers. And on there, as on everywhere on the www, I am known as the one and only "akmonki". So if anybody might be reading this post, and might possibly like to continue reading my rambles then you can probably find me there.
Alrighty folks, take care & ciao for now--
| | |
| 
"La Sagrada Familia"
Nearly one week I have been in Barcelona-- where they Speak the spanish I know, but with a lisp. So actually, they are speaking "eth-pan-yol"... anyhow, it's a little different, but certainly easier to understand than Italian.
It is a magnificent city, basically one giant piece of artwork-- look up Antoni Gaudi-- he was a ground breaking architect who created stunning mosaic-covered, gravity-challenging edifices scattered around the city.
Now I'm feeling the serious impact of the Euro currency on my meager savings, and needing to find a job asap. I'd like to stay here for awhile because I like the verve and beauty of the city. It has all the big city energy, back alley treasures, laid back feel, and immediate access to the Mediterranean beaches.
The "Gingerbread Houses" in Parc Guell
Lovely lovely.
Ideally I would like to get hooked up as an "Au Pair", where a local family takes me in providing my room & board in exchange for teaching their children English. Unfortunately this is something I should have been researching months ago. So for now, I might just have to settle for a cheap room outside of town and maybe odd jobs watching kids or in corner cafe's.
That's all, so ciao for now.
| | |
| 
We arrived in a completely new world a few days ago. Our latest plane ride landing in Rome, Italy. Cold. Unfriendly. Huge. What kind of place have we found ourselves in ?
I have tons to write and post about, but not now. maybe someday | | |
| I´m in Ecuador! Been here for about three weeks now. We spent some time inland (where the temps reached near freezing at night), around Quito & Banos.
But my sister and I decided that we needed to seek out some warmer areas, so we headed to the coast. Now we´re in a small hippie-turista town called Montanita where hippies line the streets with their artesianos, and half-nekked people cover the beaches on the weekends. And every evening, people sit and wait on the sidewalks until around midnight when the parties start a-hoppin. And that´s about all for now.
Today I plan to sit in the sand, practice my spanish, maybe surf or play a little futbol, and go out for some dancing later.
Hope anyone who happens to be reading this is well. ok, ciao! | | |
|
